The Last Case
by DarkTailsXZ
Summary: An old and bitter detective called Vector receives the call of a man who asks him to look for a guy called Shadow and recover the Scepter of Darkness. Looks like a simple task, but soon enough Vector will find out this case won't be so easy to solve.


**_Hey everyone! I leave you here my first fic in English. It actually is a translation of an old one so that it could reach more people. I hope you like it. Read it all and also read the note at the end to clarify a couple doubts._**

**_This is a story based in some characters and situations of the game Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Next Gen). By the way, it's a dark fic, so be warned.  
_**

**_Without further ado, I leave you with:_**

* * *

**THE LAST CASE**

For some time, I thought being a private detective would be interesting… and to be honest, it was for some time. There was a time when a new case, even if it was very simple, filled me with excitement. And what pleased and thrilled me the most was that I would solve it with the help of my friends… but since my friends are gone, things have changed radically. Being a detective has lost all sense… and it was my fault.

There were three of us at the Chaotix Detective Agency. I was the team leader, my second in command was Espio, the chameleon with ninja skills; and the third one was the young bee, Charmy. The time we spent together was great until I wasted it all due to my irresponsibility. That day we were investigating a psychopath who had kidnapped our client's daughter. Eventually, we found out where he was hiding, and due to my eagerness to catch him, I dropped my guard despite the warnings of my friends, who entered that place with me in spite of everything else. The guy had set us up and placed a bomb that detonated two minutes after we got in. Charmy didn't make it… he was just fifteen. Last week he would've turned thirty.

After that, things went from bad to worse. After some time, Espio decided to return to the mountains back to the temple where he had come and continue with his training. A couple years later I found out that temple had been bombarded during a local war. No one survived.

And that's how I ended up lonely in this tiny room I use as office and bedroom. Many times I thought about quitting, but this is the only thing I do well. Besides, it helps me get by now that my bank account is nearly empty, the same as my wardrobe, my cupboard and my fridge. However, I made a bow that my next case would be the last one. I was too old a croc to do this kind of stuff.

That afternoon like usual, I was sitting in front of my old desk playing with my revolver, another artifact which I had occasionally considered using on myself, but was too coward to do it. I was resting my feet over the desk next to a half-empty bottle of whiskey, a phone and a computer, both old and dirty. Suddenly, the phone rang startling me a bit.

"Another jealous husband…" I said to myself before answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Is this detective Vector?" Replied a man with deep and rough voice.

"Speaking. What can I do for you?"

"I have a job for you."

"You want me to spy on your wife, don't you?"

"Not at all." He answered. "An artifact of great importance has been stolen from me and I need you to find who's responsible.

"What did they steal?"

"A relic known as the Scepter of Darkness."

"Do you have any idea who stole it?"

"Someone by the name of Shadow."

"Do you know anything else?"

"That's all I know."

"And what is your name?"

"I can't tell you."

"Well then, call me when you can." I said angrily. "I don't work like this."

I was about to hang up when I heard the man's voice again.

"Before you hang up, I suggest you check your bank account."

Quickly I typed some things in the computer and the screen showed me my account movements. Someone had just deposited ten thousand rings.

* * *

I put on my coat and my hat and half an hour later I was looking for this Shadow guy. I had a bad feeling about this case, but a case is a case and I couldn't give up on it. After all it would be the last. I looked for Shadow everywhere I could but no one knew him. There were no records, no background nor anything that indicated that Shadow even existed. Just like his name, he was a real shadow.

After two days of looking for Shadow unsuccessfully, I decided to take on a new course and look for the Scepter of Darkness. There wasn't much information on the matter either, but I was a bit luckier. I found out there had been someone who had been after the Scepter a couple years ago, although that person hadn't been very lucky. So I set off to visit him in Station Square's Mental Institution.

The asylum was a creepy place. The walls, which originally were white, were now dirty and worn out just like the floor. I realized with certain sorrow that it reminded me of my office. An orderly escorted me to the visit room, which looked to me more like an interrogation room. The only furniture was a large table and two chairs. There were no windows and there was just a door with a tiny opening. Behind the table the person I went to see was already waiting for me. He was a tall, grey hedgehog, had two large spines going down to his back and some other smaller spines in his forehead, which resembled a cockatiel's feathers. His amber eyes were lost in the immense. He wore a white robe and I noticed he didn't have a straitjacket.

"Don't worry." Said the orderly. "He's always in that state so he's not dangerous. I do wish you luck getting him to talk."

"I guess if I make the correct questions, I'll get the answers I want."

I sat in front of the hedgehog and started talking.

"I guess you are Silver."

There was no answer, but I didn't expect there would be.

"I want to talk to you about something… I'm looking for an artifact called the Scepter of Darkness; do you know what I'm talking about?"

He kept silent, but I noticed his eyes widen when I mentioned the scepter.

"I heard you were looking for it before ending up here."

The hedgehog started shaking and moving his mouth as if trying to say something.

"What happened to you, Silver?"

"Stay away from the scepter…" He said in a barely audible whisper and without looking at me.

"Why?"

"It is cursed… it… took Blaze…"

"Listen Silver, it's my job to find the scepter, so I need you to tell me everything you know about it."

"It… takes them… it needs them… for the trigger…"

"Who takes them? What is that trigger?"

"The trigger… the Iblis Trigger… it needs life…"

"What is Iblis?"

"Iblis… it needs life… it needs the scepter…"

I noticed Silver was getting more and more nervous and I felt more and more frustrated. This was getting me nowhere.

"Alright, I see you don't want to talk, so I'll just go and keep looking for the scepter." I said standing up and turning away.

"NO!"

Upon hearing the scream, I turned immediately. Silver stood up, tossed the table over and ran to me. I tried to defend myself but he was faster. With his hands, he grabbed my neck and pushed me against the wall. He was incredibly strong and had a maniac stare.

"YOU MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE SCEPTER!"

"Let me go… right now…"

"IT WILL TAKE YOU TOO!"

"Please… you're… killing me…" I uttered almost breathless.

Suddenly, two orderlies rushed in and grabbed Silver taking him off me.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" He exclaimed. "I MUSTN'T LET HIM GO NEAR THE SCEPTER!"

One of the orderlies pulled out a syringe and gave Silver a shot. The hedgehog started to lose strength.

"No…! You must… stay away…"

I figured it was worth a last try.

"Who has the scepter, Silver?"

"E… E… Eggman…" Was Silver's last word before passing out.

Minutes later, the orderly escorted me to the exit.

"What did you say to him?"

"I just asked him what he did before ending up here." I said taking care of not revealing anything important.

"It must have been that." He said thoughtfully. "Poor guy…"

"What happened to him?"

"He used to be a detective from the police. One day he and his partner were investigating I don't know what and she ended up dead… Really sad."

"His partner's name was Blaze?"

"I think so."

We reached the exit just then.

"Well, thanks for everything and I'm sorry for causing trouble." I said going out without looking back.

* * *

As I walked to my office I kept on thinking over what had happened at the asylum. I still didn't know where the scepter was, but at least I knew it was dangerous… it had killed someone and left someone in the madhouse… another detective, by the way. Now I had other two things to look up apart from Shadow: The Iblis Trigger and Eggman. Suddenly I thought of a possibility. What if the one who hired me was that Eggman guy…? And if Silver had been a police detective, it was possible that Shadow worked for the government as well. He was surely a member of some special force of sorts. That would explain why I couldn't find anything on him. But I knew of someone who would be able to find him. In that moment I stopped, and instead of continuing walking to my office, I took the bus to this person's house.

Ten minutes later I descended from the bus in a middle class neighborhood. The houses were small but well cared of. I headed to one of them and rang the bell. Seconds later the door opened and a yellow, two-tailed fox with average height and friendly look greeted me. He wore a grey, oil-stained T-shirt and worn out jeans. His blue eyes, framed by square glasses looked at me kindly.

"Hello detective." He exclaimed. "What brings you here?"

"Hey Tails." I answered. "I need to find a person."

"I guess the kind of person who doesn't appear in the phonebook."

"You're right."

"I don't think that will be a problem, follow me."

A moment later he took me upstairs to his room.

"And your friend?" I asked.

"Sonic? He's traveling through the country again. You know how he can't stay in one place for too long."

"Yeah, I can tell that."

I met Tails a couple years ago when he hired me to look for a friend who lived with him when he found out that a bomb had exploded where this friend was supposed to be. It turned out that his friend had changed his mind in the last minute and traveled somewhere else. Tails was pleased with my work and offered to help me whenever I wanted. He was a successful mechanical engineer, but he was a talented hacker as well, and that was the kind of help I required from him in times like this. Besides I visited him somewhat frequently because even if I didn't want to admit it, the kid reminded me a little of Charmy. Tails was, at much, two years older than him.

"So you're looking for someone, aren't you?" Said Tails.

"Yeah, his name is Shadow."

"Quite a mysterious name."

"He's related to an artifact called the Scepter of Darkness and I suspect he works in some government agency."

"So you want me to hack into the government's network, huh…? This will be interesting."

After a while of decoding passwords and jumbling the government's network, at last he stumbled upon a lead. Apparently this Shadow guy worked for the G.U.N. agency, a tactical forces special unit. However upon entering G.U.N.'s network, Tails' computer froze.

"Oh no… you can't do this to me…" Exclaimed Tails.

"What's happening?"

"They're trying to block me, but I won't let them."

Tails typed furiously for a while until a triumphant smile appeared in his face.

"Yes! I made it!"

A second later, however, the computer froze again and the screen turned black.

"What!? It can't be!"

Tails managed to reestablish the computer but they had already shut him out.

"Dammit!"

"You didn't make it, did you?"

"No… I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry, at least now I know it's not Shadow I need to worry about, but the guy who hired me."

"Who hired you?"

"It seems some guy called Eggman. He didn't want to tell me his name."

"And it's all about this scepter?"

"Yes, apparently Shadow stole it."

"This is odd… Look!"

There was a new email from an undisclosed sender at the screen. Tails opened and I was quite surprised when I read it. It was barely two lines long:

"_Congratulations for your perseverance detective. If you want answers, meet me under the bridge at Station Park tonight at 8:05. Shadow"_

"How did he know you were behind all this?" Asked Tails.

"It seems I've been followed… this keeps getting better."

"Are you going to that place?" Asked Tails. "It may be a trap."

"I know, but I have no choice. I have to get to the bottom of this."

"Be very careful."

"I always am…" I said as I got ready to leave. "Thanks for your help Tails."

* * *

I arrived at the park at the exact hour and headed to the place Shadow had told me. I approached cautiously to the dirt road that passed under the bridge and could make out the silhouette of a person leaning over one of the walls, though I could not see him well.

"Good evening, detective." He said with a deep voice.

"How do you know I'm the one you look for?"

"We've been following you."

"And I assume you're Shadow."

"That's right… Follow me please."

Shadow stepped into the light and I could see him well at last. He was a black hedgehog with red streaks in his arms, legs and the spines in his head. He had a tuft of white fur in his chest and his eyes were red. He wasn't as tall as Silver, but by the look of it, he was tougher and certainly more dangerous. He started walking along the dirt path and I followed. Eventually we arrived at a concrete terrace with a small statue. When we were behind the statue, Shadow stopped.

"And well, what the hell is going on here?" I asked.

"Like I said before, we've been watching you." Said Shadow. "We know you've been investigating me and an object called the Scepter of Darkness. What we want to know is who hired you."

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me." I stopped a moment thinking if I should say it all and decided that if I wanted Shadow to tell me the whole truth, I should do the same. "Though I suspect it's a guy called Eggman."

"That's most likely the case."

"And who's that Eggman?"

"Doctor Eggman is a scientist who used to work for a branch of the government. But the guys at the top noticed his hunger for power and fired him. It was then that he swore revenge on us and stole the Scepter of Darkness. We sent a couple of police detectives to get it but the things didn't end up well."

"You're talking of Silver and Blaze, right?"

"Correct." Answered Shadow. "After that, Eggman went into hiding for a while until we finally tracked him down and I was sent to retrieve the scepter. That was when he contacted you."

"And what exactly is the scepter?"

"It's a relic the ancient ones used to make sacrifices to Solaris, the Sun God. However, the legend says that if someone uses it with selfish ends, he will wake the fire beast."

"Don't tell me… Iblis."

"Very well!" Said Shadow pulling out a small silver staff with a purple gem at the tip from a pouch. "As you can see, we mustn't let it fall into Doctor Eggman's hands."

"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT IT!"

Surprised, we both turned when we heard the yell. There in the air, a couple feet from us, in a sort of hovering machine sat an obese, bald man with a notorious orange moustache and an evil grin.

"Eggman!" Exclaimed Shadow.

"I appreciate your help in finding my scepter, detective."

"A job is a job." I said. "But that does not mean I will give it to you."

"Well, in that case, I'll have to take it by force."

Eggman pressed a button and from his machine came out two lightning bolts that zapped me and Shadow, sending us hurling towards the statue. Shadow dropped the scepter, which flew through the air and into Eggman's hands.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation gentlemen." Said Eggman. "Now if you excuse me, I have a world to take over."

And he flew his small pod to the other side of the park walls. A second later, I heard a loud noise and saw a larger ship taking off from the street and disappearing into the night.

"He took the scepter!" I exclaimed furiously. "Now what?"

Shadow simply stood up, smiled briefly and pushed a button in a small watch he wore on his left hand. A moment later, a small black ship landed in front of us.

"I knew Eggman was following you as well, so I placed a transmitter in the scepter and waited for him to attack." Said Shadow. "The base he used before was abandoned after I recovered the scepter and we needed to know where he was hiding now."

"So you used me as bait!?" I exclaimed indignantly.

"You know how this is, detective. Sometimes we have to resort to tricks like these, it's nothing personal." Said Shadow climbing the aircraft and then he signaled the copilot seat. "Coming?"

* * *

After some time of following the scepter's track, we went out of the city.

"Before we get there." Said Shadow giving me a small remote control with a single red button. "This ship has a powerful bomb to use in case of emergencies… if things get ugly, get as far as you can and press the button."

I nodded briefly and kept the control in my coat. Eventually the scepter's signal stopped behind some mountains in an abandoned train station. Shadow accelerated and started shooting the wall until he tore it down. The ship descended in the ruined platform where Eggman had built a sort of pedestal where he had put the scepter.

"How good of you to join the party!" He exclaimed. "We'll begin shortly, in the meantime, make yourselves comfortable."

Eggman pressed a button and suddenly we were surrounded by attack robots. We tried to slip through them, but they finally caught us and forced us to kneel in front of Eggman.

"I'll have you know that I need just a tiny sacrifice to wake the fire beast. Once I finish this, I'll conquer the world." Said Eggman. "In appreciation for your services, I'll let you witness the show, detective… let's begin."

Eggman stood in front of the scepter and began reciting.

"Through this scepter I offer thee this sacrifice, o powerful Iblis… help me cleanse this world of those who oppose us… now I shall break thy seal… RISE!"

The gem in the scepter started shining stronger and stronger… it was going to get Shadow… I couldn't allow it.

"NO!" I exclaimed with all my strength as I managed to free myself from the robots and started running toward Eggman. The gem shot a purple lightning that hit me in the chest. I started to feel how my strength faded away. Far away, I could hear Eggman's uncontrollable laughter until I could see Shadow managed to free from the robots and destroy them, and then he pulled out his gun and with three shots took Eggman out. Then he tried to shoot the scepter, but the energy deflected the shots. With growing despair he looked from the scepter to me to the scepter.

"Do it…" I managed to say with whatever little strength I had.

After a moment, Shadow raised his gun and shot me under the chest. Apparently that was enough to break the bond between the scepter and me. The artifact stopped shining and I fell with my back to the ground. Shadow approached me.

"I'm sorry."

"Sometimes… you have to resort to tricks like these… nothing personal…"

The hedgehog smiled briefly until an alarm went off and suddenly we were surrounded by robots again.

"Get as far as you can…" I said with difficulty. "I'll hold them back…"

Shadow looked at me for a moment and then smiled again. "Thanks detective."

The hedgehog managed to knock down a couple robots and ran out of the place.

I hope the guys aren't angry at me for ending up like this, I thought. Suddenly I started laughing… I had sworn this would be my last case but I never got to think what I would do next… Destiny surely had a sense of humor…

"HEY YOU PIECES OF JUNK!" I exclaimed standing up with the little strength I had left.

The robots stopped following Shadow and started to approach me. Calmly I took out the remote control Shadow had given me.

"Surprise…!" I said smiling.

I squeezed my eyes with all my strength and a second later I pressed the button.

_The End._

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

So we reach the ending. I hope you've enjoyed my story! First of all I take the time to repeat that this is a story BASED in the game, however, as you can see, not all things are the same (starting with Vector's appearance). I've played the game and know what is the Iblis Trigger and the Scepter of Darkness and so on... so please don't send me comments "correcting" me about those issues, alright?

What I do ask you are comments and suggestions about the story and if you found a spelling or grammar mistake, please let me know so I can change it. I believe I have a high level of English but it's not my mother tongue so, there can be mistakes.

Thank you all!


End file.
